Red seas rise in Vancouver

Justin Trudeau draws over one thousand to South Vancouver rally

By Mercedes Deutscher, News Editor

On September 10, a rally hosted by the Liberal Party took place at the South Hall in Vancouver. The rally, which featured a keynote speech by party leader Justin Trudeau, drew over one thousand Metro Vancouver residents.

The evening began with Harjit Sajjan, the Liberal candidate for Vancouver-South, who introduced all of the Lower Mainland’s Liberal MP candidates who were in attendance. The crowd showed enthusiasm, especially for Vancouver candidates.

After this, Trudeau arrived and mingled with the crowd before stepping onto the stage. He started off by reminiscing about his time in Vancouver, and then proceeded to tell a story about his grandfather, James Sinclair. From there, Trudeau took some time to criticize the current government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, taking particular note of the Mike Duffy trial, the recession, and the refugee crisis.

“Vancouver would just not be Vancouver,” Trudeau said in regards to the refugee crisis, “and Canada would just not be Canada, if our past leaders had taken Stephen Harper’s attitude toward people who need our help.”

The next topic that Trudeau spoke about was the economy. He began by criticizing Harper, saying that despite the economy being his strength, he was still failing Canadians. From there, Trudeau criticized the NDP economic plan, calling their plan to immediately eliminate the Conservative deficit foolish, as it would be a high cost to Canadians. Trudeau then said that the NDP was backing out of plans to increase funding to healthcare and public transit. In addition to this, Trudeau criticized Thomas Mulcair’s lack of transparency in regards to his $15 dollar per day child care plan, stating that Mulcair not being able to answer questions about the plan creates doubt that such a plan exists.

After Trudeau’s criticisms of his competition’s economic positions, he proceeded to promote the Liberal party economic plan. Trudeau spoke about investing money in jobs in order to grow the middle class, raising taxes on the wealthy in order to aid the middle class, and increasing the Child Tax Benefit.

Trudeau touched upon Metro Vancouver transportation, saying that a way to aid economic growth in the Lower Mainland would be to invest further in public transportation.

There was some time taken to encourage and thank Liberal supporters for the time spent volunteering, placing signs, and donating.

Trudeau closed the rally off by saying, “My friends, this is Canada, where better is always possible.”